Dark Heart
To know a thing, you have to see it
or hear it, faintly, where it hides
or catch a whiff of it, sweet or sour,
or touch it when the lights are out
or taste the way it flavors
what you thought you knew.
T know a thing is to recognize
its properties and how it interacts.
When we take Vengeance,
shave and shower him,
deodorize and scent him,
clothe him in a starched shirt
and dark gray worsted wool,
and call him Justice,
in his dark heart
he is Vengeance, still. Know
the dark heart. Taste
its limbic chemistry
as metal in the mouth. See
the way it pulses through
the bloodworks and muscle,
clenching fingers in a fist. Hear
its paleomammalian shriek
inside the throat. Feel
its surge through the lungs,
abdomen and legs. Smell
the coppery scent within
the gorged nostrils. Seize
the dark heart where it lives
and stoke it back to calm routines.
Let it serve your human life
instead of something
with savage eyes
hiding in the bush.
or hear it, faintly, where it hides
or catch a whiff of it, sweet or sour,
or touch it when the lights are out
or taste the way it flavors
what you thought you knew.
T know a thing is to recognize
its properties and how it interacts.
When we take Vengeance,
shave and shower him,
deodorize and scent him,
clothe him in a starched shirt
and dark gray worsted wool,
and call him Justice,
in his dark heart
he is Vengeance, still. Know
the dark heart. Taste
its limbic chemistry
as metal in the mouth. See
the way it pulses through
the bloodworks and muscle,
clenching fingers in a fist. Hear
its paleomammalian shriek
inside the throat. Feel
its surge through the lungs,
abdomen and legs. Smell
the coppery scent within
the gorged nostrils. Seize
the dark heart where it lives
and stoke it back to calm routines.
Let it serve your human life
instead of something
with savage eyes
hiding in the bush.
Conrad would approve.*
Timely piece: even before finishing the read, I could hear the word "acrid", yet I continue not to see it: but it has several lines to hide in.
Good work. ("Paleomammalian" is apt and exact, too.)
Vengeance dressed up as Justice. and the dark heart in all of us. Much to ponder here (as always), Gary. *
What Amanda said...and Tom Waits: http://youtu.be/Xw2MjRcVO4g
*****
Loved this: <I>Taste
its limbic chemistry
as metal in the mouth. See
the way it pulses through
the bloodworks and muscle,
clenching fingers in a fist. Hear
its paleomammalian shriek
inside the throat. </I> "*"
Strong and thoughtful, Gary. *
Thank you, Kyle.
And Matt,
and Kathy,
and stannikov,
and Amanda
for the lovely comments.
Thank you, John.
Great words in here - limbic, starched, metal, muscle, paleomammalian... I could go on. And I love how the poem personifies Vengeance. This is language flexed and stretched, showing its might to the sword.*
Thank you, Emily.
Strong piece, Gary. A mirror of a sort for our times.
Thank you, Sam.
stroke it back to calm routines.
Thank you, Steve.